is there's life in the space??????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This forum is for discussing space science topics related to Stardust@home.

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BoLTMaN
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Post by BoLTMaN »

Yes, there has to be just based on the scope of the whole thing.

We are perhaps "creating" a new lifeform today.. the internet is one example. At what point does "it" start making actual decisions on it's own. Does that meet the criteria of life?

Imagine being on Mars and seeing one of our rovers, keep in mind you (martians) may have NO CONCEPT of machines or robots. Would a rover be alien life? You bet it would be to a martian since you wouldn't have proper perspective.

I firmly believe each intelligent civilization eventually crafts it's own replacements (better, stronger, faster) over time. We will probably be supplanted by robots or another technology or perhaps our bodies will be integrated into the robots... arising a new and much varied "lifeform".

Take this theory back in time a notch. What if we are actually the replacements of another completely different lifeform. Perhaps we were "designed" to do more calculations per second or "live" in this specific atmosphere. What if we are the "robots" better in some key ways and lacking in others? What is life?

Even today robots do our bidding and you can bet they or another technology will be our future intersteller travellers NOT humans (due to the resources involved). If and when contact is made it will be through our technology and "creations". Will we still be around at that point in time? And if we aren't whose to say our technology doesn't fit a description of life to that distant culture? Mechanical "life".

Robots, internet , future tech (and the exponential increase in complexities)... one day there will be a debate about which of these technologies is the first new lifeform and we will be the creators.




You have now entered the Twilight Zone.
BoLT oN!

BoLTMaN
DustDevil
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Post by DustDevil »

You're quite right.
There's still no definition of life that is accepted by everyone - in other words: We still don't know what life is.
One will find a lot of different ideas how to define life. In some of them also a computer virus can be seen as life. In this sight we already have created a new lifeform... It always reminds me of Stephen Hawking's comment on this topic, who said something like: It is remarkable that the only form of life humans have created is a destructive one.

Yes, I also think we will create robots that can be defined as life some day. But just remember the common criteria of life: reproduce themselves, mutate... I really don't like this picture of the future!
tareq
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Post by tareq »

Oh my god, you are so right guys, we don't actually know what's the form of life that could be found some day, you have realy opened a new window to think about that topic, so maybe there's an intellegent viruses, that could be true, but i dont know why i always take the positive side, so if there's life-no matter the type- it will be peaceful, and am sure they will gonna help us, any way i hope that we found some day a form of life, but hopefuly it would be peaceful.
DustDevil
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Post by DustDevil »

Why do you think the life we will find is intelligent? Look at the earth - there are so many different forms of life and only very few of them can be seen as intelligent (there is the question whether there is intelligent life on earth at all, but that's another topic...) and when you consider the long time life on earth exits, intelligent live is very young.
What I much more expect we will find is very "simple" life like bacteria or something like that.
The point is, we don't know if we could identify such life. It could look completely different to all forms of life we know - so how should we tell that this something we just discovered is a form of life?!?
spk72
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Life past or present?

Post by spk72 »

What if an advanced civilization sent probes to earth when dinosaurs were here. Humans have a very short time compared to the dinosaurs so maybe they (advanced civilization) passed the earth up since there wasn’t intelligent life here. I also think the distances are to large, thousands of advanced civilizations could have come and became extinct before the primordial ooze of earth had even started. Anyway when is this project going to get going I'm getting ant in my pants waiting!
Howie
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Of course there is life elswhere, of Some sort!

Post by Howie »

If at present, there is air, water (moisture), volcanic or earthqauke ativity, on another universal body, other than earth, and you believe the big bang theory, which includes earth, and the space object or planet has not gone dead from change, there has to be some sort of life no matter how small...

Unless, you believe in God, then, that is a whole other story!!!
Duri
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Post by Duri »

What's the definition of life? What can we consider to be life?
I am sure, that with our ordinary definition of life, we wouldn't find many life forms in the Universe (except our Earth). The problem is what is life, and what isn't. There are probably such different life forms, that we can't even recognize them as life!
For me, even stars are alive...
Last edited by Duri on Mon Jul 03, 2006 12:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I am not totally worthless, I can always serve as a bad example!
Howie
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To Duri

Post by Howie »

I agree...

to the point that everything is there and is real...

and what is life, like you say stars,,, are alive...yes alive means it is there but, our philosopy says it must at least have the basics of life...

we have found parasite type living organisms deep in the ocean near volcanic vents so hot that, how do they suvive? But they do!!! And we know things can be frozen suspende, and brought back to life,,,

So, it is possible to find some sort of life in the future, and I really also do not think it is extra terrestrial, by now they would be talking to Bush!!!
danajohnson
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Life_in_the_Space

Post by danajohnson »

As in most scientific achievements of consequence a strong bias of 'personal property' and 'group ownership' is nearly certain. Whether the find becomes public knowledge is not a certainty, perhaps not even a probability.
Usually not discussed is the concept that if outside contact were to be occurring with Earth, it would nearly certainly have happened at vastly earlier timing than the current recent human history - we simply have been here a 'momentary' period of overall geologic time, and similarly during life's development timing.
Additionally is the simple probability that if we achieve extension to contact by our efforts it will be nearly certainly at a far better developed technologically refined condition and future timing - not at all likely to be a current event. We simply hope and yearn for more than we consist of, and more than we can achieve.
The statements I made concerned the knowledge of 'intelligent' life, which serves our stronger ambitions.
The current NASA MER MI photos show in some very obvious content suggestive of life-like objects, some appearing animated. Why? Can a planet such as Mars harbor a variety of life currently, or are there non-organic items which appear 'life-like' in detailed visual organization?
We should be campaigning for a required full disclosure policy, and a full gallery of findings in the Stardust program as well as other space programs. Any discoveries of this type are just too unlikely and valuable for secrecy from most of the concerned public.
Others opinions?
Eric
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lol

Post by Eric »

haha, what a funny question, of course there is
Hawkwings
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Post by Hawkwings »

There's a simple defining line for what "life" is. It may or may not be "right", but it is a defining line. If something can reproduce, then it's alive.

Now, using this definition, I do believe that there is other life in the universe. Will we ever find it though? Probably not. The universe is a very big place.
MDG
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Post by MDG »

Couldn't resist adding this..............

The fact that an extra terrestrial spaceship hasn't landed in a busy, public area in broad daylight, is proof that there is intelligent life out there. :wink:

Michelle
"We are Stardust, we are golden........." Joni Mitchell
astrooman
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Post by astrooman »

I think, that there is life in the space...
Thank you [you]
3of4
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Post by 3of4 »

I have been readng the post in this topic with great interest and increasing joy. Looks like I'm not the only one who is letting here mind wonder about alien life and what it will look like.

Did you know that there is a theory about the origin of life on earth stating that life was brought to earth by meteorites? A researcher (at the moment I can't remember his name) who did some research on a meteorite discovered that there were molecules present in the meteorite that can form vesicle structures when put into water. In essence a primitive form of a cel membrane. If this is the way we started we might also be considered to be extra terrestrial.

And to surprise you with even more mind boggeling research: life on earth is carbon based, we all know that. But did you know that is is possible to construct vesicle type structures of for instance metaloxides!?! And did you know that the formation of these type of membranes folow the same principles as known for the primitive building blocks for cel membranes (a delicate balance between atractive and repulsive forces between the building blocks). Just an example of proof that life might develop in an entirely different way, or at least with entirely different building blocks than life we know here on earth..

In the famous words of Spock: "it's life Jim, but not as we know it.."
"I don't like it and I'm sorry I had anything to do with it" Schrödinger speaking of quantum mechanics
nexguy
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Post by nexguy »

I would think the chances of there NOT being life within a few lightyears is pretty remote.
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